[Westheim]

After posting their first W of the offseason in a trade with the Capitals, the Raccoons also posted a Capitals-related L as soon as free agency arrived. The left-handed hitting catcher we had thrown a big black googly eye on, Manichiro Toki, formerly of Washington, was indeed rated a type A free agent. The Coons promptly stepped back – we weren’t going to burn our first-rounder on a 35-year-old catcher.

Unrelated, free agency had reduced the Raccoons’ surfeit of righty relief to near-nothing. As things stood in mid-November, we had a rotation of Wheats, Okuda, Jackson, Merino, and Mathers; plus a bullpen containing Rella, Moreno, Porter, Ibold, Marucci, Kelly, and Jones. The only other pitchers still on the extended roster were Adam Capone (grumble grumble), Tony Negrete, and Brad Barnes, all of whom might as well be reassigned to AAA.

The only catcher on the roster was Ruben Gonzalez, however. There were also only four players sorted into the infield category right now with Pat Gurney, Arturo Carreno, Ben Coen, and Matt Waters. Al Martell had also departed for free agency, but promptly also got an offer from the Raccoons once out there. For the outfield, riches: Baskins, Manny, Herrera, Toohey (who might really end up at first base), Anderson, Dustal, Pellicano, Shedd were all on the roster from September duty and/or the DL. Some cleanup was deemed required, and for a start Brian Shedd and Tony Negrete were sent back to AAA already in November, leaving only 26 players on the offseason roster.

Naturally, left-handed hitting catchers were a rare breed. I had Cristiano filter down the major league personnel to those that were basically competent hitters, not ancient, and were hitting lefty or switch, and we quickly whittled it down to five names, which already included fringe personnel, but also a few genuine stars.

Giampaolo Petroni was a Gold Glover and 3-time All Star on the Miners. He had just taken in his second Platinum Stick, and had banged 26 homers for a new career-high in 2045. Word was however that he was a bit of a **** and pitchers didn’t really like throwing to him, which was a bit of a red flag. Also, the Miners probably had their own designs with him and were likely not very interested in a deal.

On the Cyclones, Valentino Sicco had broken out in ’45 after languishing with the Loggers for a few years. The 27-year-old had hit for an .852 OPS and had a murder arm to throw out runners, but was quite clumsy and pitchers also didn’t rate him highly because he was moving around behind the plate so much during delivery.

For switch-hitters, there was Mark Pasko of the Condors, a rather ho-hum candidate. He hit .313/.351/.463 last year, and .242/.293/.341 this year. It was hard to know what you’d get. He probably graded average behind the dish, but had never amounted to 500+ PA either. Even more fringe was a 32-year-old career FL backup mentioned just for completeness, Roger Reyes of the Wolves, who probably held a job with the Wolves because the Wolves had lost all their fur and had forgotten how to howl. There was nothing to see there.

There was one more lefty, though. And he was well known in Portland. Tony Morales, 31, had caught for the Coons from 2035 through 2041, producing a steady string of above-average seasons. Never outrageous, but also quite reliable in hitting about .270 with 12 homers. He the became a free agent with the Raccoons in a valley in the early 2040s, signed a 6-year, $13.74M contract with the Condors, and had yet to produce anything for it. Three teams had so far partaken in paying off that salary, including currently the Falcons, and he was due another $2.44M annually in 2046 and 2047. He had never won a starting job for any of these teams (Condors, Buffos, Falcons), but when he played, he usually played well, except for a horrendous second half with the Falcons in 2043.

The Falcons wanted to get rid of him, too, better today than tomorrow. The money was not an issue, and in fact, they might pay up for the privilege of his removal. It would allow us to pair him with Gonzalez in a platoon, which would benefit both of them, just like him and the now-departed Jeff Kilmer had split the tab for a few years.

Of all the right-handed batters that were not obvious superstars on strong teams that had no vested interest in a deal, I was most interested in Felipe Gomez. He cost basically Morales money, but was signed to the Aces through 2049, which would be his age 36/37 season. He was quite steady, usually hitting just above league average. He was rated a good to very good defensive catcher, and word was he wanted out of Vegas. So that was a genuine other option here, but would not give us a platoon with Ruben Gonzalez.

Other interesting cases? Well, if the Maldonado reunion wouldn’t work out there was a third base option on the market that had just taken a fifth career platinum stick and was not rated a type A free agent, career Coons torturer Dan Hutson. Granted, he was already 35 (to be 36 in May), but he represented *an* option. He had led the CL in homers three times (2040-41, 2043), and had still smacked 26 this year. His third base work still rated as above average.

There were also a few options to upgrade on Arturo Carreno, really. Doug Richardson was a potential free agency option, and there was a Japanese free agent, Ryohei Hiraoka, 28, that had a solid profile; a patient bat with some power, very steady glove work, but unfortunately no speed and there were whole meme shows dedicated to his baserunning blunders. On the upside, he would be cheap and could be packed into AAA as insurance.

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November 15 – The Pacifics acquire C Kyle Templeton (.218, 8 HR, 39 RBI) from the Titans in exchange for SS/1B Jon Rodriguez (.273, 22 HR, 118 RBI).
November 17 – The Capitals acquire the Indians’ C Julian Diaz (.248, 2 HR, 93 RBI) for 2B/SS Joe Tindle (.254, 2 HR, 9 RBI) and a prospect.
November 21 – The Thunder win the services of ex-LAP OF Juan Benavides (.311, 142 HR, 616 RBI) for $26.88M over seven years.
November 21 – Former Blue Sock INF/LF/RF Felix Marquez (.286, 132 HR, 624 RBI) signs with the division rival Buffaloes for $22.28M over four years.
November 21 – Gold Sox right-hander Eddie Sotelo (21-12, 4.07 ERA, 35 SV) crashes his car into a stationary vehicle while drunk, messing up his shoulder well enough to miss the entire 2046 season.
November 22 – The Pacifics add RF Mike Hall (.287, 57 HR, 593 RBI) from the Crusaders – he also played for the Buffaloes in 2045 – in exchange for OF Aaron Foss (.281, 50 HR, 379 RBI) and an interesting but unranked prospect in C Angel Lara.
November 27 – The Cyclones swap C/1B Dan Rollin (.288, 20 HR, 121 RBI) to the Stars, along with a prospect, for outfielder Ricky Correa (.274, 45 HR, 339 RBI).

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New deals for former Raccoons? Dennis Citriniti will get $442k from the Stars; Jose Zarate landed with the Thunder for $318k; and the Loggers took in Sal Ayala for $1.08M;